01What Ram Navami is
Ram Navami is the ninth day of the bright half of Chaitra, the last day of Chaitra Navratri, kept as the birthday of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu. It falls in March or April, at the start of the Hindu lunar year, and is kept across India and in Ayodhya above all, where the temples and the banks of the Sarayu fill with pilgrims. Many households keep the whole of Chaitra Navratri with it, reading the Ramayana from the first day and closing on the ninth.
02The story told of it
The Ramayana tells of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, who performed a great sacrifice for an heir, and of the four sons born to his queens: Rama to Kaushalya, Bharata to Kaikeyi, and Lakshmana and Shatrughna to Sumitra. Rama's birth is placed on the Navami of Chaitra's bright half, at midday, under Punarvasu nakshatra with the Moon and Jupiter rising together. That midday moment, the middle of Madhyahna, is the time the festival's worship centres on.
03How it is kept
Devotees fast from sunrise, and the worship is gathered at the Madhyahna muhurat, the stretch of midday when Rama is held to have been born: the image of the infant Rama is bathed, dressed and laid in a cradle, the Ram Raksha Stotra and passages of the Ramacharitamanas are recited, and the arati is sung at the midday moment itself. Panakam, a jaggery drink, and kosambari are offered in the south. The fast is broken after the puja, and processions carry the images of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman through the streets in the evening.
04How the day is chosen
Ram Navami is kept on the day Navami is current at the middle of Madhyahna, the third fifth of the daylight, because the tradition places Rama's birth at midday. That midpoint is the Madhyahna moment.
05Ram Navami in other years